Lamp-guard.



No. 776,633. .PATENTED DEC. 6, 1904. F. W. WINBOLT.

LAMP GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 26. 1903.

N0 MODEL 4) hniwwkoc a (2/ 30 E uine- 00) v ml? 04 W a rig. 6.

llirh Smarns ATFNT Patented December 6, 1904.

LAllVlP-GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 776,633,

dated December 6, 1904.

Application filed December 26, 1908- Serinl No. 186,521. (No model-l T0(I/ZZ whom, it 777/(bZ/ concern.-

Be it known that I, FRED W. TINBOLT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inLamp-Guards; and 1 do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to guards for electric lamps.

Since the bulbs of incandescent lamps are very fragile, and consequentlyvery liable to destruction through a slight blow, it is necessary toprovide them with shields or guards to protect them from injury wherethe lamps are exposed to the danger of being struck by or against someobject. Such shields or guards are usually made of wires secured in theform of a cage, which is supported so as to inelose the bulb of thelamp. it is desirable that these guards be so constructed that they mayeasily be placed in position or removed, at the same time being heldfirmly and securely in place, as well as that they should be so arrangedwith relation to the bulb that the bulb is prevented from coming intocontact with any external object. For this reason guards have heretoforebeen designed to be clamped securely to the lamp-socket, the bulbextending downwardly into the guard, but not coming into contacttherewith, and the guard being either held entirely free of the bulb orelse being provided with abutmeuts of some sort to space the bulbproperly within the guard. Guards which are supported from thelampsocket are objectionable in that although the guard may properly fitthe socket, yet it may become slightly bent or otherwise distorted, soas to offer very little protection to the bulb, and, moreover, such aguard must be removed before the bulb can be unscrewed from the socket,thereby necessitating two operations whenever it is desired to removethe bulb from its socket. The latter defect has been overcome bysupporting the guard wholly upon the bulb and securing it in position bymeans of a hinged ring or clasp adapted to pass around the neck of thebulb; but this arrangement possesses the disadvantage that the guardcannot be removed from the lamp with out first removingthe lamp itscliand then unclas ping the guard. This construction l as the furtherdisadvantage of being inflexible, for the reason that if the ring of theclasp is made to [it closely upon the neck 01 a particular lamp it willbe either too loose upon another lamp or else be too small to receiveit, and consequently in order that the guard may be used upon any givenclass of lamps it is necessary that the ring of the clasp be made largeenough to accommodate the neck of the largest lamp, the result beingthat the guard will be loose upon many of the lamps.

The object of the present invention is to provide a guard Whollysupported upon the bulb and which may be removed from the bulb withoutreleasing the bulb from its socket and which guard shall further beadapted to lit tightly upon lamp-bulbs varying somewhat in diameter.

The present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 represents a side view of my improved guard and shows indotted lines a lampbulb arranged Within the guard. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of the improved guard, showing the catches released and thetwo halves of the guard swung apart ready to receive the lamp. Fig. 3 isa plan view of the guard when locked in position. Fig. 4 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 3, illustratingamodified form of guard. Figs. 5 and 6are views showing fragments of the upper ring of a guard provided with a1nodified form of catch.

Similar reference characters will be used to denote like partsthroughout the specification and drawings.

The guard A consists of a number of longitudinal wires a, secured attheir lower ends to a small ring a and at their upper ends to twohalf-rings a and (Wei much greater radius. The wires are shaped so thatthey form a cage closed at the bottom and of such dimensions as toafford a proper amount oi clearance between the sides of the cage and aninclosed lamp. Each wire is bent inward sharply at two points in itslength-namely, at the points (0* and a -these bends being of suflicientdepth to take up the clearance between the sides of the cage and thebulb, whereby when the bulb is inserted within the cage or guard eachwire bears against the bulb at the two points a and (0". Although, asillustrated, each wire is provided with bends (0* and yet a veryeflicient arrangement consists in omitting these bends in alternatewires, which then serve to protect the lamp at the points where theadjacent wires are bent inward to engage the lamp.

Since the upper ring of the guard is split, the guard consistspractically of two halves secured to the small lower ring a, and isadapted to open and close somewhat in the manner of a clam-shell. Theresiliency of the component wires is suflicient to permit the guard tobe pressed open a sufficient distance for the passage of a lamp. Thisconstruction is deemed of particular importance, since the guard may besnapped upon the lamp and will be held fairly secure through its ownresiliency, whereas where hinges are employed the two parts of the guardmust first be adjusted upon the lamp and held there until the catchesare set. Moreover, with hinges there is always a certain amount of playor looseness, which is a vital defect in a lamp-guard, which should beso rigidly secured to the lamp as to be practically a part thereof.

Near the upper end of the guard are arranged two spring-catches a and ato aid in holding the guard in place, these catches being mounted on onehalf of the guard-and being adapted to engage the terminal wires of theother half, so that after the lamp has been inserted the catches may besnapped into position, firmly locking the guard upon the lamp.

The catches are preferably placed some distance above the upper bends(4* in the Wires, so that the wires above their upper points of contactwith the lamp may be sprung inwardly slightly in order that theengagement of the catches may be effected, although the diameter of thebulb happens to be slightly greater than that for which the guard wasdesigned. These catches may be made integral with the upper ring, asshown at (r and (r in Figs. 5 and 6.

In Fig. i the guard is shown as having a pair of semicircular wires Bsecured to the two halves of the guard for the purpose of engaging thelamp, these wires taking the place of the upper bends (0*. Upon thesewires there are preferably arranged spring-coils B B, which act ascushions between the lamp and guard and, furthermore, render the guardautomatically adjustable to various-sized lamps.

It will be seen that the present guard is one which may be readilysnapped into place upon a bulb and which may be as readily removed againwithout disturbing the bulb and, further, that since the guard issupported wholly upon the bulb it may be removed, together with thebulb, when the bulb is unscrewed from its socket. It will also be seenthat by reason of the peculiar construction the guard is held veryfirmly upon the bulb, so as to be practically a part thereof, and thatthis is true notwithstanding variations in the diameters of respectivebulbs, since the upper ends of the wires are adapted to be sprunginwardly to overcome any excess of the diameter in the bulb, and in theform shown in Fig. 4: the springcoils afford additional adjustability.It will be further seen that because of its inherent resiliency theguard will remain upon the lamp even if the catches should fail.

Although the drawings disclose a preferred construction of my improvedguard, yet it is of course understood that the Wires of which the shellis composed need not be arranged substantially parallel with each otherthroughout the body of the shell, since any usual or desired arrangementof the wires forming the body portion of the shell may be employed.

Having described my invention, I claim as new and desire to protect byLetters Patent of the United States 1. A lamp-guard consisting of ashell formed of longitudinal Wires secured at one end to a closed ringand at the other end to the members of a separated ring, said shellbeing provided with inwardlyprojecting means for engaging a lamp-bulb ataxially-separated points in order to support the guard wholly upon thelamp-bulb, substantially as described.

2. A lamp-guard consisting of a shell formed of longitudinal wiressecured at one end to a closed ring and at the other end to the membersof a separated ring, said shell being provided with inwardly-projectingmeans for engaging a lamp-bulb at axially-separated points, togetherwith catches for holding the parts of the guard. together, and lockingthe guard upon the lamp-bulb, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I af'tix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRED W. VVINBOLT.

Witnesses:

JOHN ALDRICH,

COLIN O. MoRRIsoN.

